


Cherry Ames Returns to Spencer

by DesertVixen



Category: Cherry Ames - Helen Wells & Julie Tatham
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 13:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11875146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: Cherry Ames is offered a new job at Spencer Hospital





	Cherry Ames Returns to Spencer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wendelah1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendelah1/gifts).



She was rather at loose ends, Cherry Ames admitted to herself. Although the war had ended a few years ago, she could have stayed in the Army and made a career of it. However, she was fairly sure that the Army wasn’t the life for her – or for many of them. Of her close friends, only Marie Swift had decided to stay in the Army, a decision that had surprised everyone. Cherry was proud of what she and her nurses had accomplished in the Pacific, but she was pleased to be a former Army nurse, with her uniform hanging in a closet.

At their graduation from Spencer, the Superintendent of Nurses, Miss Reamer had spoken of the many ways that nurses were needed – not just in hospitals or in the warm but everywhere. She should know, Cherry thought with a grin, as it seemed she had tried them all. The problem was that none of them appealed to her for the long term. She loved going new places, meeting new people, and finding new problems and mysteries to solve. More than that, she enjoyed the freedom her short jobs gave her. 

Cherry enjoyed her visits home, where she could see how Dr. Fortune and Midge were getting on, and visiting with her parents, since her twin brother Charlie was often gone in his work as a pilot. It also gave her the chance to travel without worrying about a strict schedule. Cherry had just returned from a visit to Indianapolis to visit with Ann Powell – once Ann Evans, student nurse – and her family. Ann had been one of her closest friends in their Spencer days, most often serving a necessary role as the voice of reason. Cherry missed working with the calm steady nurse, but she knew Ann was happy raising her family with her husband Jack. 

Still, it was something of a relief to come back to Hilton and find a letter waiting for her. She had been getting a little restless. The letter bore a familiar postmark – Spencer Hospital – and to Cherry’s shock, it was from Miss Reamer. As she opened the letter, she wondered what sort of temporary job Miss Reamer might be writing to her about. Cherry always loved going back to Spencer Hospital, seeing what was new at the school and pitching in wherever her hands might be needed.

When she set the letter down, she saw her mother watching her.

“Is something wrong, Cherry?” There was a hint of concern in Mrs. Ames’ voice.

“Not wrong, just…not what I expected. Miss Reamer wants me to run up to Spencer for a visit, but she says nothing about a job.” 

*** *** 

As usual, curiosity got the better of Cherry. Miss Reamer had suggested that Cherry come up the next week, and she wired back a response. 

Sitting on the train, she couldn’t help thinking of that very first train ride, when she had just been starting her journey as a nurse. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

Cherry was pleasantly surprised to find Bertha Larsen and Josie Franklin waiting for her at the train station. 

“The last to arrive, as usual,” Bertha teased Cherry as they embraced.

Cherry laughed with her. After all, she hadn’t been nicknamed “the late Miss Ames” in their training days for nothing. “The last to arrive for what?”

Josie shrugged. “Your guess is as good as ours.”

Cherry had planned on getting a hotel room, perhaps having a quiet dinner in the hotel restaurant. Instead, she found herself falling asleep on the sofa in the room Josie and Bertha were sharing, as the three of them stayed up late to catch up on everyone’s doings. Both of them were part of what they called the “Spencer Club”, a group of their friends who’d shared quarters in Greenwich Village when they worked as visiting nurses. Gwen Jones and Mai Lee were still there now, working in one of New York City’s finest hospitals. The remaining member of the Spencer Club, Vivian Warren, had married in the last year and was living with her husband in California. Her wedding had been the last time all of them had been together, and there was plenty of news to share.

*** ***

As they entered the rotunda of Spencer Hospital, Cherry looked up. There, hanging from the roof in a place of pride, was the service flag that had been a gift from Cherry’s graduating class. It was embroidered with the school’s name and year, and sixty nurses’ caps – for all sixty members of their class had volunteered to be Army nurses.

It always felt odd to enter Miss Reamer’s office, especially as the three of them wore their best suits, rather than their white uniforms.

“I wanted to thank the three of you for coming,” she said in her precise way after pouring out tea. “I have followed your careers, of course – I make it a point to know what Spencer graduates are up to in the world. The three of you have enjoyed excellent and varied careers, and I would like to offer you another unique opportunity.”

Cherry sat up a little straighter, excited by the prospect of a new position here at Spencer.

“I would like for the three of you to becoming nursing instructors,” Miss Reamer announced. 

*** ***

Cherry was lost in thought on the train ride home, paying no attention to the scenery streaming by. She still couldn’t quite believe that Miss Reamer had asked her to step into the shoes of nurses like Miss McIntyre, the woman who had presided over Cherry’s initiation into the world of nursing. A laugh escaped her as she thought of some of the hijinks she and Gwen Jones had pulled off. According to Miss Reamer, those hijinks were one of the reasons that she had been selected.

“After all, Cherry, if there’s a way to get out of a scrape, you’re the one to find it,” she had said with a fond smile. “And I trust you will be able to stay a step ahead of the more spirited girls.”

Of course, the three of them had agreed – Spencer School of Nursing needed them, and nurses went where they were needed. They had shared a rather excited dinner in one of the nearby restaurants, as they divided up the work that needed to be done. Josie would travel back to New York to pack for herself and Bertha, while Bertha would stay at Spencer and locate an apartment for the three of them to share. As Cherry lived closer than the other two, she would go home and get her things together – Bertha would wire as soon as the apartment was secured, and Cherry could join her. Time was short, and there was a lot they had to do to get ready – records to read, supplies to prepare, classrooms to reacquaint themselves with.

Cherry burst into her mother’s kitchen, where Mrs. Ames was just taking a delicious smelling roast from the oven. “Oh, Mother! You will never guess what job Miss Reamer offered me.”

*** ***

A month later, Cherry found herself nervously straightening her nurse’s cap on her dark curls. She wore her best uniform, and her cap was freshly starched. She looked at herself in the mirror, making sure that everything looked perfect for this first impression. Her cheeks were a little redder than usual, and Cherry hoped no one commented on them.

Bertha and Josie were doing the same, and Cherry was intensely glad that the two of them were with her on this job. They would be teaching separate sections, of course, but Cherry knew that she could depend on Bertha’s ever-present calm and Josie’s efficiency, while she helped keep the probationers on task. The probationers had been welcomed last night by Miss Reamer, and Cherry wondered if they were as nervous as she had once been.

“They’re waiting for us,” Bertha said placidly. 

The three of them held hands for a moment, just a moment, then walked over to the classroom. Inside were sixty girls in the gray uniform of the probationer nurse – the same gray uniform that Cherry had once worn herself. All those eyes were on her as Cherry walked to the front, and the hushed conversations taking place were quickly silenced. 

“Good morning. My name is Miss Ames. Along with Miss Larsen and Miss Franklin, I will be your Instructor of Nursing Arts.”

Sixty eager, nervous young faces looked back at her as Cherry began to call the roll, as briskly and efficiently as she remembered Miss Mac doing.

She couldn’t help feeling that this might be her most important assignment ever.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked the story! Not as much actual nursing, but I think that Cherry's love and dedication for it comes through.
> 
> I did want to work in an encounter of the Dr. Wylie kind, but it felt forced.
> 
> Several references to earlier volumes of the series, particularly Student Nurse, Army Nurse, and Visiting Nurse.


End file.
